Fish embryos: Practical indicators of environmental quality of significance to fisheries
- Department of Commerce, Milford, CT (USA)
Cyto-embryological analyses of fish eggs collected in nature can be a more sensitive indicator of environmental pollution than more typical assays conducted on artificially-spawned eggs. This is because uncertainties associated with artificial spawning and rearing are dispensed with, as well as because of the sensitivity of some cellular and subcellular analyses. At the same time, such measures can provide information on interannual differences in egg viability of importance in elucidating great, unexplained variability in fisheries recruitment. Extensive experience with fish embryos from ocean plankton has led to the choice of a particularly useful, practical suite of observations for different developmental stages. This includes measures of embryo mortality, mutagenicity, teratogenicity, abnormal cell differentiation, and development rate. Atlantic mackerel egg mortality has been determined to be greater in the surface waters of the New York Bight apex and along the New Jersey coast than in less polluted portions of the Bight. Chromosome abnormality of mid-stage embryos was also greater in more impacted areas of the same water mass, as well as in the somatic cells of adult mackerel and winter flounder, and in juvenile and adult windowpane flounder caught in more impacted areas. Mortality and abnormality of the mackerel embryos showed statistical associations with toxic hydrocarbons as measured in plankton, and with heavy metals as measured in sea surface waters. The sensitivity, practicality, and relevance of the cytoembryological studies to population dynamics of resource species make this an important means of monitoring environmental quality.
- OSTI ID:
- 6991541
- Journal Information:
- Water Resources Bulletin; (USA), Vol. 24:5; ISSN 0043-1370
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
FISHES
MORTALITY
WATER POLLUTION
BIOLOGICAL INDICATORS
CELL DIFFERENTIATION
CHROMOSOMAL ABERRATIONS
CYTOLOGY
EMBRYOS
FISHERIES
HYDROCARBONS
METALS
MONITORING
MUTAGENESIS
TERATOGENESIS
WATER QUALITY
ANIMALS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
BIOLOGY
ELEMENTS
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
MUTATIONS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION
VERTEBRATES
560300* - Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology
540320 - Environment
Aquatic- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)